By Adriano Marchese


Toronto stocks continued their decline in midday trading Friday, driven lower by a broad-based decline. The biggest decliners were tech, producer manufacturing and consumer durables. Health tech stocks were the only gainer.

On the macroeconomic front, Canadian wholesale trade climbed by 2.4% in April due to a recovery in motor vehicle sales, while factory sales rose 1.1% with the strongest increase in five months as motor vehicle sales recovered.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.6% to 21568.37. The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 fell by 0.6% to 1287.54.

Neo Performance Materials shares were nearly 15% higher at 8.46 Canadian dollars ($6.16) after it said it will consider the sale of the business as part of a new strategic review of opportunities aimed at maximizing shareholder value.


Other market movers:

VersaBank received the final regulatory approval in the U.S. necessary to move forward with its acquisition of Minnesota-based Stearns Bank Holdingford and enter the U.S. market. Shares were up 1.5% at C$14.64.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-14-24 1215ET